In a different context, the 300-mile round trip would have been the fare of a lifetime, but for the drivers it was an unpleasant journey made necessary by concern that the added cost would discourage people from taking cab rides, particularly during a recession.
The proposed tax would be partly used to help bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with the other half of the money going to unrelated transportation projects in upstate New York.

Democrats in the State Senate came up with the idea after other proposals for raising emergency revenue for the transportation agency, including tolling the East River bridges, failed to gain support. The proposal has been approved along party lines by the transportation committee and the finance committee and is currently before the rules committee.

Displaying signs like “no taxi tax,” “not on our backs” and “cabbies suffering from recession too,” the unhappy drivers gathered in Manhattan at 6 a.m., holding a brief rally before driving north, said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which counts 12,000 drivers as members.

In Albany the caravan drove around the capital building and — after spending 40 minutes searching for parking — the drivers held a rally on the steps similar to one last week at City Hall, she said.

“We said we feel really betrayed by our elected officials who want to balance the budget on our backs,” said Ms. Desai, who met with Assembly and Senate leaders afterward.

State Senator Bill Perkins, a Manhattan Democrat, said the meeting convinced him of the adverse impact on drivers.

“I wish we had heard from them sooner,” Mr. Perkins said. “I’m going to talk to leadership to suggest that we look for an alternative that doesn’t put the burden where it is now.”

Average daily ridership in March was 465,574, higher than December and January, though a drop from February, according to information released by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Historically there have been small dips in ridership following fare increases, though that did not happen in the two most recent cases in March 2004 and November 2006.

I don’t feel bad about this surcharge at all. If you have that many problems paying a cab fare then take public transportation like the rest of us poor NY slobs. I know some extremely spoiled people who will take a cab rather than walk 6 blocks. They have lived in Manhattan for years but don’t know how to use the bus. Let them pay more for their laziness – I”ll be paying more for my metrocard too but at least I don’t live in a guilded bubble.

This is an absolutely unfair burden to put on taxi drivers. Why should they be responsible for the MTA’s shrotfalls? Their costs are already sky high, between lease fees, gas, car maintenance, credit card fees, and all the ticket stings police pull on them. It’s not taxi drivers’ fault that the MTA can’t balance their budget! They are a separate, independent entity from the MTA and should not be touched.

Putting this surcharge on their backs is like forcing a restaurant to raise its prices to then send to the city to subsidize the price of a supermarket gallon of milk. Ridiculous!

Perhaps the M.T.A. could balance their books by cutting the cream at the top. You know, the worthless and incompetent ‘executive’ corps who couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag, let alone a transportation system. Outrageous $350,000 per year salaries for some while infrastructure crumbles, services are cut and fares increase. The M.T.A. will only change when their charter is drastically changed to reflect the fact their mission is to serve the public and not the other way around.

I live in an area of the city that is not well-served by public transportation, so it takes me nearly 45 minutes and three forms of transportation to commute the 1.5 mile distance from work to home. To save 35 minutes, I have been taking taxis lately. I already struggle with the rush hour surcharge and the evening surcharge, but take a cab anyway since the 35 minutes saved mean slightly less money for daycare costs and, more importantly, more time with my kids. However, I will be more likely to go back to public transportation if they add on yet another surcharge. I can somehow justify spending $3 more than a subway fare per day, but $4 may be too much during these difficult times.

Between walking, biking, and cabbing, I plan on spending less than $103 a month once I ditch my Metrocard, which I am definitely doing. I don’t look forward to paying a dollar to save something that I have made a conscious decision to avoid

Gypsy cabs will definitely get a huge bump if this is the case. If anything this is an attempt to have as much of the money come from tourists/travelers as possible and from wealthier people in general. Not saying this is good or bad, just that it is directed at those more capable of affording it in most cases.

Here’s a novel idea: make the users of mass transit pay the full cost of a ride. Maybe then the bus and subway riders will realize just how great a deal they have been getting with the artifically low and highly subsidized fare they are used to paying. And it might also prompt them to ask MTA management just why they can’t run a clean efficient mass transit system with all the money at their disposal.

While I don’t necessarily think it is fair for the MTA to address their shortfall by taxing taxis (where is the connection exactly?), the extra dollar on cab rides would also not change my taxi riding habits. I take them when they are necessary or would provide an extreme convenience over a subway ride i.e. packages or something far out of the way or crossing the park uptown. The cost is a itigating factor, but $1 isn’t enough to deter those trips.

We already have a surcharge for between 4 and 8 PM and I for one have avoided cabs at those hours and have seen, of course, many more available cabs in Midtown than there used to be before that surcharge. And there is a surcharge for later at night also. To put another one on top of that is to take it out of the pocket of the cab driver who works hard for his income. The MTA can find other sources of income. Maybe they can go back to their double set of books of a few years ago. Too soon we forget their malfeisance.

Please give me a break. After reading about all of these potential money-raising schemes, am I to believe that simply raising the subway or bus fare by 50 cents a trip will suffice? If so, I do not accept that people cannot pay this additional $1 a day in New York City.

Anyone who has enough money to routinely take cabs can afford an extra dollar. The transit system here isn’t SO bad – basically, for most people in the city, the bus or the subway is an option. If you don’t choose to utilize the transit system because either you want to get someplace faster (in the cases when a car is faster, which isn’t always true) or because you have a heavy load, then your cab fare will be a little higher than it used to be. I can’t understand why this $1 would make such a big difference to anyone.

People who drive cars in and around NYC benefit enormously from the existence and use of the MTA: less traffic to contend with, more parking spaces, and obviously the huge local economy of a densely populated city that could not exist without a subway. Yet these drivers pay nothing for the MTA.

People who don’t have cars, in stark contrast, must pay for both their mass transit tickets AND for the maintenance and improvement of roads and bridges that they don’t directly use, through their income taxes.

Why are MTA riders paying for drivers’ infrastructure, but drivers not paying for the MTA infrastructure?

The tax on taxis just adds insult to injury: those without cars are being asked to pay for the MTA on the occasion when they need to take a taxi. Meanwhile, people who drive into the city continue to get a free ride.

Put a toll on the bridges! Those drivers enjoy the benefits of the MTA every day, so they should pay at least something for those benefits. Taxi riders taking a cab between Manhattan and Brooklyn or Queens would of course pay those tolls too.

It is going to hurt the taxi drivers in their tips if nothing else and they should not be punished because the elected officals are afraid for their jobs with the voters if they tax the free bridges. The Verrazzano Bridge is going up to $13 and the Manahttan bridges are free! Takl about fair! The MTA has no idea how to live in the real world and just tax because what can we do? Nothing!

The NYS Senate is learning that if you can’t please everyone, you have to please no one. Public transportation should be paid by three groups:
1. Those who use it, i.e. a reasonable fare increase
2. Those who should use it, i.e. tolls on East River Bridges and taxi surcharges.
3. Those who otherwise benefit from having a mass transit system, i.e. employer payroll tax.
No one wants to pay more, but then again, I think very few would like a commute like Atlanta.

When are New York cab drivers NOT complaining about any change, no matter what it is? They got a fare increase, with the stipulation that they accept credit cards, and then when the credit card part of the agreement came into effect, they claimed that their rights were being infringed and organized a work stoppage. They make nothing, I admit, but this is the job. Deal with it or get a different (horrible) job.

Taxis already are expensive… but they should be. They are totally a luxury and they major polluters. The less the better. Aren’t all these cab drivers all former doctors and lawyers and scientists from their home countries?

Lets try to phase out taxis and get these hard working people back to real jobs that contribute to our economy and environment.

It still boils my blood to think that we are penalizing mass transit riders and those with car-shares (which, no matter how you feel about it, is what taxis are), but allow drivers coming into the city from the boroughs a toll-free ride.

That said, I also believe that the MTA’s budget problems should remain “in the family”. Sure, it will hurt to pay more at the turnstile, but the MTA should clean up its own mess.

I agree with post #10. To be honest, nothing would make me happier if they would just do away with cabs altogether and accelerated construction on the 2nd ave line and/or improved subway service overall. I takes cabs from time to time, but would gladly cut it out of my routine if it meant improved subway service and safer pedestrian travel.

Seriously, if not on the backs of those who pay big bucks to get around, then whose backs should the budget woes be placed on? Also, taxis will likely seem more affordable due to the fact that subway fares are rising and service is being cut.

The drivers may be adversely impacted, but the simple fact that one profession will be injured does not mean that the government should forgo one source of revenue when the options would mean spreading the sacrifice to areas not having to do with transportation or cutting spending from other areas.

….but why is this fee being split evenly between a service that assists millions of people to get to work everyday in the area whose tax-base is paying the fee and our cousins upstate? Can’t we secede already?

it’s an outrage. Why does a completely different business (Taxis) have to save the other, failing one (MTA)?
And what incentive will the MTA then have to deal with their budget? Why not just add another taxi surcharge in a year or two, instead of managing their own budget better?
and if they railroad fails, why not add a surcharge to plane tickets, right?
ridiculous.

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